On April 24, 1976, John Lennon and Paul McCartney nearly took Lorne Michaels up on his offer to have the Beatles perform on Saturday Night Live…
There are a lot of ‘almost’ moments in rock and roll history, one that has always hung heavily over our heads was the very real moment Saturday Night Live nearly reunited The Beatles, had John Lennon and Paul McCartney been bothered to get up from watching it on TV.
In the iconic first series of ‘Saturday Night Live’ – America’s home of alternative weekend hilarity – show’s legendary producer, Lorne Michaels set himself a fairly big challenge: to reunite The Beatles. He started as any SNL act would, with a piece direct to camera.
Whether Michaels was performing with the real intent of reuniting the most enigmatic songwriting partnership to have ever existed in Lennon and McCartney, or he was just doing a bit, he shared the sentiment of a nation. Michaels talks directly to the camera about how The Beatles had affected so many lives, “In my book, The Beatles are the best thing that ever happened to music. It goes even deeper than that — you’re not just a musical group, you’re a part of us. We grew up with you.”
He sincerely suggests an offer to the pair, “Now, we’ve heard and read a lot about personality and legal conflicts that might prevent you guys from reuniting. That’s something which is none of my business. That’s a personal problem. You guys will have to handle that. But it’s also been said that no one has yet to come up with enough money to satisfy you. Well, if it’s money you want, there’s no problem here.”
Audiences across the country gasp in hope that maybe this might just happen, with Network money anything is possible, surely? Michaels continued, The National Broadcasting Company has authorized me to offer you this check to be on our show. A certified cheque for $3,000.” It now becomes a little clearer that Michaels’ tongue was firmly in his cheek.
The producer continues with the bit and explains how all the band need to do is sing three songs “‘She Loves You,’ yeah, yeah, yeah – that’s $1,000 right there. You know the words. It’ll be easy. Like I said, this is made out to ‘The Beatles.’ You divide it any way you want. If you want to give Ringo [Starr] less, that’s up to you. I’d rather not get involved.”
Here it is, that ‘almost’ moment we promised. While Michaels entertained the audience in the studio with his skit the millions of folks watching at home were likely laughing away with them – John Lennon and Paul McCartney included. Unbeknown to Michaels and the rest of the globe, the duo was just a mile or so away watching the show together in John’s apartment in the Dakota building.
As Lennon said in 1980, “Paul … was visiting us at our place in the Dakota. We were watching it and almost went down to the studio, just as a gag. We nearly got into a cab, but we were actually too tired. … He and I were just sitting there watching the show, and we went, ‘Ha ha, wouldn’t it be funny if we went down? But we didn’t.”
Paul McCartney would confirm the story saying, “John said, ‘We should go down, just you and me. There’s only two of us so we’ll take half the money.’ And for a second. … But It would have been work, and we were having a night off, so we elected not to go. It was a nice idea – we nearly did it.”
Oh, what could have been. It’s an ‘almost’ moment so tantalising that a TV film was made about what would have happened had they of reunited in 1976. The film is called Two of Us and first aired on VH1 in 2000.
George Harrison would go on to be a musical guest on ‘Saturday Night Live’ later in the year and carry on the joke. Arriving to collect the previously offered cheque, he and Michaels discuss the split. With the producer’s hands tied Harrison agrees that for an extra $250 he would say the show’s iconic opening line, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!”
Sadly the show would never be able to reunite The Beatles. Lennon and McCartney were just a mile and a half away from the studio and the world was just as close to a historical moment.
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